Cornerstones of Care and Netsmart Align to Accelerate the Integration
of Care and Technology in Human Services

Affiliation to unite two organizations with the charter of delivering
approaches, proof points, tools and other solutions to all human service
providers

October 08, 2015 10:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It’s often said, treating the “whole person” requires that technology be
used to break down information silos between social, behavioral and
physical care providers. Much progress has been made, but many
challenges remain to ensure our communities are safe, healthy and
vibrant.

Two Kansas City-based organizations, Netsmart
and Cornerstones
of Care today announced a first-of-a-kind, multi-pronged affiliation
agreement designed to innovate and implement together to positively
impact the health and well-being of children and families.

Fully Aligned Partnership

The partnership is built on three tenets:

Creation of a demonstration site for the utilization of technology to
drive real, measurable outcomes

Creation of new solutions where gaps exist

Proliferation of the learnings to the rest of the human services
industry

“The traditional relationship between a health and human services
organization and an EHR provider is too often oriented around ‘projects’
that have finite beginnings and endings,” said Netsmart CEO Michael
Valentine. “In this case, both Netsmart and Cornerstones of Care were
looking to create a relationship that is designed up front to sustain
deep engagement over a very extended period of time. Core to this is the
notion that we are taking a ‘One Team’ approach, in which members from
both organizations blend together from day one to create a shared team
with shared objectives. Under this model, we both measure success in
identical ways, which helps to maintain the alignment of the
relationship over time.”

Cornerstones of Care provides a full range of prevention, treatment and
support services to children and families, including mental health
intervention, psychiatric hospitalization, transitional living services,
prevention and therapeutic treatment services for victims of abuse and
neglect, and foster care case management.

“We are entrusted with providing a programmatic spectrum of care that
benefits more than 10,000 children and family members. That’s no small
task,” said Cornerstones CEO Denise Cross. “This partnership with
Netsmart gives us the opportunity to transform how we provide services,
allowing us to broaden our reach and have an even greater impact on the
children and families we serve. We are excited to integrate new
technologies and a tech culture of innovation with our culture of
healing and nurturing, resulting in cutting-edge service delivery.”

“We both feel a real obligation to be leaders in the human services
industry. Together, we will both be able to accomplish bigger and better
things than we could have individually,” said Valentine.

Immersive Collaboration

The partnership involves deep interaction and collaboration between
clinical, IT and operational professionals from Netsmart and
Cornerstones:

Cornerstones of Care employees will take up residence at Netsmart
facilities to learn how technology capabilities are evaluated and
ultimately created.

Netsmart associates will participate in cultural sabbaticals,
shadowing clinical staff with the goal of gaining a deeper
understanding of the optimal workflows and content required at the
point of service.

A strong focus will be placed on measuring the impact that the
initiatives have on clinical, financial, and operational outcomes.

Over time, Cornerstones of Care will become a showcase healthcare
information technology space where best practices can be shared with
the other HHS providers and communities.

“The long term goal of this immersive collaboration is to foster an
environment of integration, innovation, discovery and knowledge
capture,” said Cross. “From this we hope to develop improved clinical
and operational processes and solutions that can be broadly scaled to
improve services and quality of care for children, families and
communities.”

About Cornerstones of Care

Cornerstones of Care is a family of agencies dedicated to strengthening
children, families, and the communities in which they live. Through the
delivery of prevention, treatment and support services, Cornerstones of
Care has a positive impact on the health and well-being of communities
in the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Illinois.

Netsmart is healthcare’s largest post-acute EHR provider, and is
committed to helping health and human services providers deliver
coordinated, integrated, outcomes-based services and care. Netsmart
serves more than 20,000 clients across all 50 states, resulting in
approximately 450,000 users of its software and technology solutions.
Netsmart clients include mental health and addiction services agencies,
health homes, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health
practices, public health departments, social services and child and
family services agencies, managed care organizations, and vital records
offices.

Netsmart is pleased to support the EveryDay Matters Foundation, which
was established for behavioral and public health organizations to learn
from each other and share their causes and stories. For more
information, visit www.everydaymatters.com